The mood among the members of German packaging producers' association Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK, Bad Homburg; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de) is positive as 2013 gets underway, the association’s latest quarterly survey shows. Of the companies queried, 90% described the current economic climate in Germany as good or satisfactory, and most of the survey respondents also expect their turnover to rise in Q1 over Q4 2012. Most IK members are optimistic about the export channel, too, although the latest trend survey did show that turnover expectations are generally lower and on a par with those throughout 2012.

This optimism notwithstanding, the companies queried predict that the raw material price situation will remain tense in 2013 as well. This perception, IK says, “continues to strengthen the impression that the increasingly volatile development of raw material prices has a decisive influence on the signing of a contract and thus on business relations between packaging suppliers and customers.”

Faced with this reality, IK managing director Ulf Kelterborn has recommended the increased use of escalation clauses that would afford better planning security from a cost point of view and minimise the customer’s risk potentials on future raw material price developments.